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Indian Indices Trade Flat; Realty Stocks Witness Losses
Tue, 2 Jan 11:30 am

Stock markets in India are presently trading marginally higher. Sectoral indices are trading on a negative note with stocks in the realty sector and energy sector witnessing maximum selling pressure.

The BSE Sensex is trading down 5 points (down 0.01%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up 2 points (up 0.01%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.6%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.5%. The rupee is trading at 63.67 to the US dollar.

In the news from the currency markets, the rupee is trading on a positive note this week. It yesterday ended up at a five-month high against the dollar.

The above momentum was seen for the past three sessions, where the rupee gained around 47 paise against the dollar.

Most of this was seen on the back of dollar unwinding by banks and exporters amid bearish sentiment for the dollar overseas.

Apart from that, expectations of robust capital inflows into India supported by various economic policy measures also kept the forex markets buoyant.

Note that the rupee surged almost 6% against the dollar in 2017, mostly driven by strong inflows into capital markets.

The appreciation in the rupee comes as a welcome breather for importers in India. A softer rupee helps importers to buy goods and services at a cheaper rate that earlier. This is vital for a developing economy that relies heavily on imports. So this bodes well for the Indian economy as higher imports normally mean increased economic activity.

But on the other hand, the rise in rupee can spell trouble for exporters. The exporters are at a disadvantage owing to the currency appreciation as this renders their produce expensive in the international markets as compared to other competing nations whose currencies haven't appreciated on a similar scale. This tends to take away a part of the advantage from Indian companies, which they enjoy due to their cost competitiveness.

Nonetheless, a stronger rupee will pull down commodity prices and help in keeping a tab on rising inflation.

While there are advantages as well as disadvantages of a rising rupee, one needs to understand whether the rise in the rupee is sustainable to derive any reasonable conclusion at this stage.

For one, the weakness of the US dollar is largely due to the relative unattractiveness of US assets. This is in part due to a very low interest rate regime prevalent in the US economy. Already there are indications that this low interest rate regime may not be sustainable for long. This means that US interest rates may go up and this may likely strengthen the US dollar.

It would be interesting to see how the above trend pans out in 2018. We'll keep you updated on the developments.

In the news from the IPO space, private sector lender Bandhan Bank has filed for its IPO to raise over Rs 25 billion. This will make it the biggest banking IPO till date.

As per the news, the company filed draft papers with markets regulator SEBI yesterday for its proposed initial public offering of up to 11,92,80,494 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each.

The IPO consists of a fresh issue of up to 9,76,63,910 equity shares and an offer for sale of up to 1,40,50,780 scrips by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and up to 75,65,804 shares by IFC FIG Investment Company.

Speaking of IPOs, the demand for IPO's has reached sky-high levels. Avenue Supermarts was seen as the first company last year to cross the 100-time subscription mark swiftly followed by CDSL and Dixon technologies, among others.

IPO Subscription Times (2017)


This euphoria is something similar to what was seen in 2007-08. When everyone around you is clamoring to get a piece of the IPO pie, it makes sitting tight difficult. And, why should you sit tight when stocks like Avenue Supermart lets you pocket a cool 100% gain from day 1 of the listing?

History suggests that these cases are few and far between. More than 70% of the IPOs listed in 2007 and 2008 are in the red, even today when the Sensex is at an all-time high.

A merit-based selection primarily including valuation, business, and management quality is the logical way to go about investing in IPOs. If it means going against the herd, so be it. And going by recent past, this strategy has been proven to be successful more often than not.

To know more, download this FREE report now and discover How to Get Rich with IPOs. This guide will show you how to safely profit from the 2017 IPO rush.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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